The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday, December 29 announced Portuguese tactician, José Peseiro, as new Super Eagles Head Coach.
This was disclosed in a communique after the NFF’s National Executive Council meeting.
Recall, the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, confirmed that he met with Roma coach, Jose Mourinho, over the choice of manager for Super Eagles, who recommended fellow countryman Peseiro for the top job.
The Portuguese appointment came 17 days after the sacking of Franco-German Gernot Rohr as Super Eagles coach.
1. José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro is a 61-year-old Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a forward only.
After an unassuming career as a player, he went on to coach several clubs in his country, including Sporting CP which he took to the 2005 UEFA Cup Final and Porto. He also worked extensively in Arab nations, being in charge of the Saudi Arabian national team.
2. He was born in Coruche, Santarém District, Peseiro never played in higher than the Segunda Liga as a professional, starting out at Sport Lisboa e Cartaxo in 1979. In that competition, he represented Amora FC, Clube Oriental de Lisboa, GD Samora Correia and S.C.U. Torreense, for a total of five seasons. Peseiro retired at the end of the 1993–94 season in the fourth division, with local club União de Santarém.
3. Peseiro spent his first eight years as a manager in the third and fourth tiers of Portuguese football, starting out as a player-coach at his last team. In summer 1999 he was appointed at C.D. Nacional, which he helped promote to the Primeira Liga in just three seasons. In 2002–03, he led the team to a final 11th position.
In 2003–04, Peseiro assisted Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid. At the end of the campaign, after the team lost a considerable advantage on the table to be finally surpassed by Valencia CF, FC Barcelona, and Deportivo de La Coruña, the pair was sacked, and the latter returned to his assistant position in Manchester United.
4. Peseiro signed with Sporting CP for 2004–05. After collecting three losses and two draws in his first nine games in charge, the side eventually finished in third place with 61 points, four behind champions S.L. Benfica;
He coached the team to a runner-up run in the UEFA Cup after disposing of the likes of Feyenoord, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United. The final was played at the Estádio José Alvalade, and after a 1–0 lead at half-time the hosts eventually succumbed to PFC CSKA Moscow 3–1.
At the start of the 2005–06 season, the Lions were ousted from the UEFA Champions League by Udinese Calcio, and after being relegated to the UEFA Cup they were immediately knocked out by Halmstads BK 4–4 on aggregate after a 2–3 home loss. On 16 October 2005, following a 0–1 home defeat to Académica de Coimbra that saw Sporting sink to the seventh position, he resigned.
5. In the 2007 off-season, Peseiro was named manager of Panathinaikos FC. After failing to win the Super League Greece and also losing 0–4 to neighbouring Olympiacos F.C. in the domestic cup, he was forced to step down.
June 2008, Peseiro signed a three-year contract with Romanian club FC Rapid București. On 2 October, after being eliminated from the UEFA Cup by VfL Wolfsburg, he was sacked only to be reinstated a few days later; he eventually resigned on 12 January 2009, after failing to agree on a new deal.
Peseiro succeeded Nasser Al-Johar at the helm of the Saudi Arabian national team in 2009, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. His first game occurred on 28 March, and it ended with a 2–1 away win over Iran which was the former’s first ever victory in that country and the latter’s first loss in nearly 40 home games; eventually, the nation failed to reach the finals in South Africa, and on 10 January 2011 he was relieved of his duties after losing the first game in the AFC Asian Cup against Syria.
6. June 2012, Peseiro was appointed at S.C. Braga. His first major signing was Portuguese international Rúben Micael, and he qualified the club to the group stage of the Champions League for the second time in its history, after ousting Udinese on penalties.
At the end of the campaign, in spite of winning the Taça da Liga and ranking fourth in the league, Braga and Peseiro reached an agreement to terminate the manager’s contract.
7. From 11 November 2013 to 11 January 2015, Peseiro worked with Al Wahda FC in the UAE Pro League. On 9 October of the latter year, Al Ahly SC announced his signing; upon hearing the news, fans of the latter protested against the decision based on his weak résumé.
8. On 18 January 2016, after cutting ties with the Egyptian side, Peseiro replaced Julen Lopetegui at FC Porto. Even though the third position the team occupied at the time of the Spaniard’s dismissal was still secured, he collected more losses than his predecessor, and also lost the final of the Taça de Portugal to former team Braga, on penalties.
On 6 June 2016, Peseiro signed a two-year deal with precisely Braga.[27] On 14 December, following consecutive home defeats that resulted in elimination from the Europa League and the Portuguese Cup, respectively at the hands of FC Shakhtar Donetsk (2–4) and S.C. Covilhã (1–2), he was fired.
9. Peseiro is married to his partner, Fatima Peseiro who is also a Portuguese. He has two children Susana Peseiro and Vitor Hugo Peseiro.
10. Peseiro’s verified Instagram handle Account page is josepeseirocoach with over 100, 000 followers.
